The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
One of the most difficult aspects of constructing dental prosthesis containing artificial teeth such as dentures, for example, is ensuring a proper fit and a natural look. As it is common for patients and dentists to endure multiple visits before ending up with a satisfactory prosthesis. In this regard, during a first visit the dentist typically makes an impression of the patient's mouth which is sent to an offsite dental laboratory who then prepares a model of the impression. This model is returned to the dentist, along with a wax bite rim.
During a second appointment, the bite rims are aligned with the impression of the patient's mouth, and are adjusted by the dentist for proper fit. More specifically, the dentist looks to ensure the patient's jaws are comfortable, and that the patient can easily move their mouth while talking and chewing. During this time, the dentist will also make several anatomical marks on the bite rims that correspond to portions of the patient's mouth such as the patient's lip-line, smile-line and/or the mid-line, for example.
Next, the marked bite rims are sent back to the offsite dental laboratory where a dental technician sets a series of permanent dental artificial teeth into the marked bite rims, based on the anatomical marks provided by the dentist, and the same is then returned to the dentist for the patient to try and approve. This process is called the wax try-in stage, and is typically the most problematic portion of the entire process. This is because the dental technician preparing the dentures is never afforded the opportunity to see the patient. As such, the technician must make an educated guess about the characteristics of the permanent dental artificial teeth based solely from the markings on the bite rim. Several of these characteristics include, for example, an appropriate size and color of each artificial tooth, along with a particular shape such as oval, square, ovoid or round, for example.
For these and other reasons, it is common that during the following (third) appointment with the dentist, the patient dislikes some aspect of the prepared dental model, such as the shape, size and/or color of various teeth, for example. Such a situation commonly results in multiple follow up visits with the dentist and/or the dental laboratory to make adjustments to the permanent artificial teeth until the patient is satisfied. Such additional appointments and time (often weeks or months) results in dissatisfaction by the patient, and loss of revenue for the dentist and dental laboratory.
Accordingly, the present invention, directed to a dental bite rim system differs from the conventional art in a number of aspects. The manner by which will become more apparent in the description which follows, particularly when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.